Use of Obeya Visual Room in Entrepreneurial Decision-making

Abstract

Entrepreneurs attempting to develop ideas outside the boundaries of organisations face challenges (e.g. high uncertainty and complexity levels, resource constraints, etc.) that might lead to failure due to different reasons, one of which is poor decision-making. Consecutively, due to constant changes in customer and market needs, entrepreneurial decisions must be taken rapidly. Hence, entrepreneurs need to take rational and effective decisions in order to succeed. Based on the highlighted problem, this study aims to investigate the impact of two approaches, experimentation and visualisation, to facilitate entrepreneurial decision-making. The primary objective of this research is to explore the impact of visualisation by adapting and utilising the Obeya visual tool during the development process of a market opportunity. Whereas, the secondary objective is to examine the impact of experimentation as a method of validating information. Hence, this thesis attempts to answer the following research question: “how can employment of Obeya impact decision-making in an entrepreneurial context”. Furthermore, this study answers the research question by employing the Obeya tool in workshop sessions, of which the researcher participates as a process facilitator, participant, and observer. The collected data, composed mainly of five semi-structured interviews from both workshop participants and external informants, is analysed using content analysis. Also, diary notes from held group meetings and workshop sessions are included. Based on the analysed content, the findings confirm that the Obeya tool positively impacts the ability to understand and communicate information. Whereas, experimentation improves the validity of data on which visualised material are built on. Hence, the study suggests that visualisation and experimentation are two, of many other, approaches that combined facilitate entrepreneurial decision-making